·̩̩̥͙＊*•̩̩͙✩•̩̩͙*˚ dear billy ·̩̩̥͙＊*•̩̩͙✩•̩̩͙*˚
LILA FRANTICALLY SHOOK MAX'S SHOULDER. Max had suddenly come to her senses, glancing around as if she feared someone was watching her. Nancy and Robin burst through the door as Max said, "Come on. There was a grandfather clock."
Max tugged Lila's arm as she followed the girl through the hallways of Hawkins High, only to stare at a dead end. "It was right here," she said with a slight shake in her voice. Their flashlights lit nothing more than the white brick walls.
"A grandfather clock?" Nancy questioned.
"It was so real. And then, when I got closer, suddenly I just... I woke up."
"It was like she was in a trance or something. Exactly what Eddie said happened to Chrissy," Dustin explained.
"Don't imply something like that," Lila narrowed her eyes at Dustin, before meeting Max's.
"That's not even the bad part," Max said. They followed her back through the hallway to the counseling office once more as she stood over Chrissy and Fred's files. "Fred and Chrissy, they both came to Miss. Kelley for help. Uh, they both were having headaches, bad headaches that just wouldn't go away. And then... then the nightmares. Trouble sleeping. They'd wake up in a cold sweat. Then they started seeing things. Bad things from their pasts. These visions, they just... they kept on getting worse and worse, until eventually... everything ended."
"Vecna's curse," Robin named it.
"Chrissy's headache started a week ago. Fred's, six days ago. I've been having them for five days. I don't know how long I have. All I know is that Fred and Chrissy, they both died less than 24 hours after their first vision. And I just saw that goddamn clock, so... looks like I'm gonna die tomorrow."
Lila tried to muster up the courage to say something, but she couldn't. It was as if a buzzing began in her ears from her brain trying to process what Max was saying. Max was going to die. Anything anyone could've said was cut short by the clang heard in the distance.
"Stay here," Steve ordered. He grabbed a lamp before exiting the room, and everyone followed after him. Around the corner came Lucas, which caused everyone to scream.
"It's me!" Lucas screamed with his hands outstretched, hoping to stop Steve from hitting him with a lamp.
"Jesus, what's wrong with you?" Steve yelled at him.
"I'm sorry."
"I could've taken you out with this lamp!"
"Sorry, guys. Sorry." Lucas was out of breath, panting as he talked. "I was biking for eight miles. Give me a second. Shit. We've got a code red."
"What?"
Lucas ignored Steve and headed straight for Dustin. "I've been with Jason, Patrick, and Andy, and they've gone totally off the rails. They're trying to capture Eddie, and they think you know where he is. You're in terrible danger."
"All right," Dustin nodded, "Yeah, that definitely sucks, but we've got bigger problems than Jason right now." Both Dustin and Lucas looked to Max, whose eyes darted to avoid eye contact.
...
By the time morning came around, they were all huddled in Mike and Nancy's basement. Robin and Nancy had passed around copies of an article on Victor Creel, who claimed he wasn't the one to murder his family and instead blamed supernatural forces. Victor was now locked away in Pennhurst, likely under high security.
"Okay, be honest. Uh... you guys understand any of this?" Steve asked as he read.
"No," Lucas shook his head.
"Pretty straightforward," Dustin answered.
"Straightforward, really?"
"What's confusing to you? So far, everyone Vecna has cursed has died, except for this old Victor Creel dude Nancy found. He's the only known survivor. If anyone knows how to beat this curse, it's him."
"That's assuming he was cursed, which we don't even know. How can Vecna have existed back in the '50s? It doesn't make sense."
"Far as we know, Eleven didn't create the Upside Down. She opened a gate to it. The Upside Down has probably been around for thousands of years. Millions. I wouldn't be surprised if it predated dinosaurs."
"But if I gate didn't exist in the '50s, then how did Vecna get through?" Lucas posed.
"What if Vecna doesn't need a gate?" Lila shrugged. "I mean, a Demogorgon does because it attacks physically, and the whole Mind Flayer thing was possession of living beings. I bet Vecna doesn't need to come through because it's a curse he attacks with, and he's also technically a wizard."
"But why would he attack now?"
"And why then? Just pops out in the '50s, and kills one family, and he's like, 'I'm good.' And poof just disappears. Just... gone? Only to return 30 years later and start killing random teens? No, I don't buy it." Steve added. He waited a moment before staring Dustin straight in the eye. "Honestly, Henderson, a little humility now and then, wouldn't hurt you. The same goes for you, Lila. You need to stop immediately grasping to all his crazy theories."
"Sorry," Dustin and Lila said in sync with a slightly sarcastic tone. Dustin looked over to Max, who was hunched over a desk. "Any idea what she's writing? Did she sleep?"
"I mean, would you?" Lucas asked.
The door to the basement burst open and Nancy and Robin came down the stairs. "Okay, so... we have a plan," Nancy smiled slightly. She passed a copy of a document to Steve, which Lila stood to look over his shoulder.
"Thanks to her newspaper minions, we are now rock-star psychology students at the University of Notre Dame," Robin explained.
"I'm now Ruth."
"And I'm Rose."
"Nice GPA," Dustin complimented as he stared at Nancy's papers.
"Thanks. So we called Pennhurst Asylum, told them we'd like to speak with Creel for a thesis we're co-writing on paranoid schizophrenics," Nancy began.
"To which they said no," Robin complained.
"But we landed a three o'clock with the director."
"Now all we have to do is charm him and convince him to let us talk to Victor."
"And then maybe we can rid Max of this curse."
"Yeah, about that. We've been doing our Victor Creel homework, and, uh... we got some questions," Steve finally admitted.
"So do we. Hopefully, Victor has the answers," Nancy shrugged.
"Wait... wait a second. Uh... Where's mine?" Nancy held back a grin at Steve's question as he chased after her and Robin the second they left upstairs.
"I don't get why he hates hanging out with us," Lila shrugged.
"Probably because he wants to be with Nancy," Dustin answered.
"Yeah, definitely," Lucas winked.
"First of all, gross," Lila grimaced, "Second of all, gross."
"She's just upset about Eddie," Dustin whispered into Lucas' ear. Lila picked up the pillow from her chair and aimed straight for his head. Dustin ducked only for it to fly past and crash into Lucas. "No need to get violent!"
"Then don't whisper about me, or else I'll tell your mom about your change of grades."
Dustin's face went sober, eyes wide as he gasped, "You wouldn't."
"Oh, I would."
The two were interrupted in their arguing when Steve came down the stairs with a grumpy look on his face in the absence of Nancy and Robin. "What do we do now?" Steve asked, sitting between the two boys.
"We wait."
After around twenty minutes of silence, Max finally called back to them, "I know you guys are staring at me." Lucas hurried to pick up a piece of paper while Steve opted for a ball. Both Dustin and Lila looked at each other, hoping she didn't mean them.
"You said you needed something?" Lucas feigned innocence while looking up from the paper.
"Just hanging." Steve tossed the baseball up in the air to catch it.
"How you think your eyes boring into the back of my head is protecting me from Vecna, I don't know," Max complained. She tapped a group of letters together before getting up from the desk and approaching them. The three boys were still pretending to be occupied with something else as Max stopped in front of them. "You can look at me now."
"Sorry," they all mumbled.
"For you," Max said to each of them as she handed an envelope with their names written on the front. "Oh, and, um, give these to Mike, El, and Will. If you can ever get a hold of them again." Dustin and Steve began to open theirs until Max stopped them. "What are you doing? That's not for now. Don't open it now."
"Okay." The letter rustled as Dustin pushed it back into the envelope. "I'm sorry, what is this?"
"It's uh... It's a fail-safe. For after. If things don't work out."
"Wait, whoa. Max, things are gonna work out," Lucas encouraged.
"No! No, I don't need you to reassure me and tell me it's all gonna work out. People have been telling me that my entire life and it's almost never true. It's never true. I mean, of course, this asshole curses me. Should've seen that one coming." Max moved to pick up the walkie, asking, "If we go to East Hawkins, will this reach Pennhurst?"
"Of course," Dustin answered.
"Wait, why are we talking about East Hawkins?" Steve interjected. Everyone glanced at him as he shook his head, "No!"
Max didn't listen, grabbing her backpack and walking from the house. "It isn't like Wheeler's house is a fortress. We should just take her where she wants to go," Lila defended as she chased after Steve who was running after Max.
"No, this isn't a joke. I'm not driving her anywhere."
"If you think I'm going to spend what is likely the last day of my life in the armpit that is Mike Wheeler's basement, then you're out of your mind," Max snapped. "So either take me where I need to go or tie me down, which is technically kidnapping of a minor. And if I live to see another day, Steve, I swear to God, I will prosecute." By the time they made it to the car, Max tried to open the door to find it locked. "Open the door."
"Uh, no."
"I know a good lawyer."
Steve scoffed before grabbing his keys from his pocket. "Henderson, that super walkie of yours better reach Pennhurst."
Lila climbed into the passenger seat of his car as the three teens piled into the backseat. Steve's music immediately started playing as Max ordered him to go to her trailer first. For three minutes, Lila and Steve both took turns messing with the radio until Lila gave in and let the music play.
"This better be fast, Mayfield," Steve said the second he parked.
"Twenty seconds," Max said as she climbed out of the car.
"That thing's got batteries in it, right?" Steve asked about the walkie.
Dustin waited a moment, sighing in disappointment. "I'm not even answering that question... Yes, it has batteries."
"Yeah, I got it."
"Can you shut off the music?" Lila asked finally.
"It's not even playing right now."
"But it will be when you start the car again. I'd rather ride in silence. Besides, what if we don't hear the walkie over it?"
"If I do, does that mean you'll shut up about it?"
"Yes," Lila lightly grinned. Steve sighed as he checked his watch.
"It's been over twenty seconds, I'm going to get her." Steve opened the car door as Lila followed suit only for Max to come from behind the trailer. "Hey, that was longer than twenty seconds." Max ignored him, speeding toward the car looking shaken up. "Hey, whoa, you all right?"
"I'm fine. Just drive," Max ordered.
"Are you sure?" Lila asked.
"I said I'm fine."
They followed Max's directions, though she never explicitly stated where they were off to next. Everyone found it best not to question her. She directed them to Roane Hill Cemetery. Max immediately left the car as Lucas followed her.
The pair conversated for a couple of minutes before Lucas came back to the three. They waited a while until Steve finally had enough and went toward where Max sat in front of Billy's grave. Lila went with him only to find Max with eyes rolled back, fogged over.
"Max!" Lila yelled. Lucas and Dustin both came over next, all four of them shaking her in hopes she'd come to.
"Call Nancy and Robin! Go get 'em!" Steve screamed at Dustin, pushing him toward the car. Dustin stumbled back toward the car where the walkie was as they failed to help Max.
Dustin came back with Max's headphones and her walkman and cassettes. "What is this?" Lucas asked after Dustin tossed them on the ground.
"What's her favorite song?" Dustin questioned.
"Why?"
"Robin said if she listens... it's too much to explain right now. What's her favorite song?"
All four scrambled through the tapes until Lucas found the cassette tape for "Running Up that Hill" by Kate Bush. They placed it on her head and continued to yell for her.
Max began to float in the air and Lila felt a chill run up her spine. They screamed louder for her, hoping she'd make it. Time felt suspended until Max came to, dropping to the ground. Max began to hyperventilate as Lucas hugged her to him.
"I thought we lost you," Lucas said meekly.
"I'm still... I'm still here," Max assured.
All five of them sat before Billy's grave. Both Lila and Dustin had placed a hand on Max's shoulder and Steve had his placed on Lucas. Just a moment, that was all they wanted, and at that time, it felt like enough.